1. Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic circuits and in particular to a method and apparatus for manufacturing electronic circuits. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning and installing flexible circuit interconnects and other components in a module.
2. Background
Flexible electronics is a technology for building electronic circuits in which electronic devices may be placed or deposited on flexible substrates, such as plastic. Flexible electronics are also referred to as “flex circuits” or “flexible circuits”. In some cases, flexible circuits may be made by using the same components used for rigid printed circuit boards, but changing the substrate to a flexible substrate.
Flexible circuits often are used as connectors in various applications. These circuits are used when flexibility, space savings, or production constraints limit the use of rigid circuit boards or hand wiring. As modules decrease in size, the use of flexible circuits to make interconnects becomes more difficult. Typically, alignment pins have been included as part of a module or circuit to position and install flexible circuits on modules. This use of pins as an alignment feature has been incorporated into three dimensional packaging architectures for radio frequency antenna modules. As the size of modules decrease, the amount of room present is often not sufficient to use alignment pins.
For example, in some instances, a flexible circuit may need to be aligned to a module within several one thousandths of an inch in three different dimensions. Consequently, any use of alignment pins that would fit in available real estate in a module would be too small for most hand assemblies.